Gold Coast: Not so famil-iar

Destination Gold Coast is surging ahead with its New Zealand campaign off the back of an 11.5% increase in Kiwi travellers visiting the Australian hot spot in 2018.

And the region showcased its not so familiar hotspots during last week’s New Zealand industry VIP Gold Coast famil in partnership with Air New Zealand. The group of nine agents were treated to a jam packed itinerary of activities including salsa dancing at Miami Marketta, stand up paddle board yoga, a scenic helicopter flight up to Mount Tamborine for ziplining at Thunderbird Park, breakfast hopping around Broadbeach and Mermaid Beach with Gold Coast Food & Wine Tours, a Seaway Water bike and snorkel tour, a backstage tour and show at Australian Outback Spectacular, and an hour of power shopping at Pacific Fair. Accommodation was at some of the newest properties – The Ruby Collection in Surfers Paradise, Avani Broadbeach, and The Gemini Court Holiday Apartments in Burleigh Heads.

Cox says in the past Destination Gold Coast has run famils on a reactive basis and focused more on bringing member missions over for training nights in NZ. ‘There’s nothing like our key distribution partners coming and experiencing the destination for themselves,’ says David Cox, international marketing manager Destination Gold Coast. ‘The travel trade has always been important to us but with a new team in place it gave us the opportunity to have a holistic look with fresh eyes. We were in agreement that we can’t achieve the continued growth we’ve had out of New Zealand without the support of our trade partners. ‘New Zealand can often be taken for granted because of its loyalty and because the numbers are so strong, repeat visitation is high, and Kiwis fit in well. To our travel trade partners in New Zealand I’d like to say how committed we are to the market.’ Cox says the stability of the market and the dispersal of travel throughout the region is invaluable. ‘We all know that the Gold Coast has Surfers Paradise and theme parks which are popular for most international markets but what we love about our Kiwi friends is that they disperse all around the Gold Coast to a lot of our industry.’

Cox says the latest data is encouraging given the wide array of competition in the NZ market. ‘It’s important to constantly give New Zealanders a reason to come back. We’re trying to say don’t just think that if you’ve spent a week on the Gold Coast you’ve done the Gold Coast, because there’s so much more to us.’ Destination Gold Coast plans to make the famil an annual event.